Review: Medicine and Life Sciences in India. Subbarayappa, B. V. (Ed.) 2001. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Pp: 771. Price not given.
by D.P. Agrawal & Lalit Tiwari
Of late the West is veering round to the Alternative Medicine Systems, as allopathy has failed to cure the serious diseases afflicting mankind. No wonder that the global herbal trade has peaked to about $60 billion and is growing at the rate of 10% annually. India has very ancient medicine systems, both in the literate and the folk traditions, and gradually their worth is being recognised globally.
Diseases are the bane of humankind ever since its advent on this planet. Humans have been fighting against a variety of diseases since prehistoric times. Eventually humans developed indigenous local systems of medicine. Indian medicine system is very ancient. Right from the Indus Valley Civilization, the evidence for the existence of a medicine system can probably be traced from the archaeological remains of Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The Harappan people used plant drugs, animal products and minerals. […]
Sathyanarayana Bhat presents a very lucid paper, “Folk Medicine in India” in this edited volume. No doubt that Ayurveda has evolved from the folk medicine. In his article he summarises the data on traditional herbalists, healers, snakebite healers, kitchen medicine, traditional midwifery, tribal medicinal practices, etc.
Source: Review: Medicine and Life Sciences in India
Address : http://www.indianscience.org/reviews/t_rv_agraw_medicine.shtml
Date Visited: Sat Feb 23 2013 18:02:09 GMT+0100 (CET)
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